1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to human hygiene, and more particularly to a portable hand cleaning device that can be installed in areas where water and electricity are normally unavailable.
2. Description of the Related Art
Portable human waste management facilities, or outhouses, are often installed at construction sights, community events, and so on. Such facilities ordinarily are not located near a convenient source of water or electricity, and are therefore not provided with a means to wash the hands after use. The absence of hand washing means contributes to a hygienically unsafe environment and its accompanying health hazards.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,522,411 discloses a portable hand washing and drying device comprising a middle compartment for receiving the hands of a user; an upper compartment with a blower for drying the hands, a battery for powering the blower, a cleaning liquid reservoir, and a lower compartment for receiving used cleaning liquid. In order to clean the hands, one hand is placed in the middle compartment while the other hand opens a valve to thereby cause the cleaning fluid to flow from the upper compartment into the middle compartment and onto the user's hand under gravity. The other hand then closes the valve and is placed in the middle compartment and the hands are rubbed together. Used cleaning fluid then falls into the lower compartment. One of the hands is then removed from the middle compartment to turn on the drying fan and then re-inserted into the compartment in order to dry the hands.
Although this device may adequately clean and dry the hands, the cleaning and drying process is relatively inefficient due to the number of required operational steps combined with the actual cleaning and drying time. Consequently, a person is less apt to take full advantage of such a device.